People coming and going from the future, improved Kwik Trip on Janesville’s East Memorial Drive will notice a significant change.
Unlike at the current Kwik Trip at 254 E. Memorial Drive slated for replacement in 2026, customers will no longer be able pull directly off East Memorial drive to get in and out of the busy station.
A key change would put all the new store’s entries and exits along Harding and Railroad streets.
Those two streets bookend the existing Kwik Trip property that’s being rebuilt and set farther south on an expanded lot, with a new, more modern store, more gas pumps and more parking.
The new configuration comes alongside a plan by the city and the state to re-align and change lane configurations along East Memorial Drive.
Janesville’s plan commission voted Monday to OK a zoning change allowing Kwik Trip to use a lot to the south, and a conditional-use permit for the project.
The plan commission recommends parking be prohibited on stretches of Railroad and Harding Streets next to the Kwik Trip.
Plan commission members heard from Kwik Trip representatives as well as neighbors to the project on Monday night.
One apartment owner next door says they’d like to be more directly involved with Kwik Trip officials on the company’s plans to screen the rear of the store.
The building will be much closer to the neighbor’s apartments than before, because Kwik Trip is moving the entire building south in order to fit more parking and more gas pumps.
Some plan commission members say they wanted to see the property have thick Arbor Vitae bushes planted in front of a wrought iron fence.
They said that combination is more aesthetically pleasing than a solid, “opaque” fence planned for the project, and it would better hide the back of the new Kwik Trip from neighbors to the south.
The plan commission left a fencing and screening recommendation off the list of possible changes Kwik Trip may want to consider.
A Kwik Trip official joked Monday night that LaCrosse-based Kwik Trip and its employees “are Cheeseheads too,” and they’re willing to work through design plans with the city and neighbors to try to allay concerns.
Kwik Trip says it plans to build out the new store sometime in 2026.
